Software Asset Management Foundation plugin migration

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated June 16, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Software Asset Management Foundation plugin migration

    This migration guide details how ServiceNow customers can transition from the Software Asset Management (SAM) plugin to the enhanced Software Asset Management Foundation plugin. The migration provides more powerful features but requires both automatic system updates and manual customer actions to complete successfully.

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    Automatic Changes Performed During Plugin Activation

    • Table Updates: Several table labels are renamed for clarity:
      • almlicense: "Software License" becomes "Software Entitlement"
      • almentitlementuser: "User Entitlement" becomes "User Allocations"
      • almentitlementasset: "Device Entitlement" becomes "Device Allocations"
    • New tables and script includes are added to support the updated plugin.
    • License key values from Software Entitlements are copied to the sampswlicensekey table.
    • Field value transfers and renames occur for software models and entitlements:
      • The "Inference mandatory" field in software suites is transferred to a new "Mandatory" field.
      • The "Rights" field in Software Entitlements is renamed to "Active rights" and its value is moved to a new "Purchased rights" field.
      • Software entitlement allocations automatically link to the corresponding software model and set quantities appropriately, aggregating multiple allocations per user/device into single records with quantity counts.
    • Forms and list layouts for Software Models, Entitlements, Discovery Models, and Software Installations are updated to fit the new application structure.

    Disabled Functionality After Migration

    • License and Software Counters: Scheduled jobs for license counters are deactivated.
    • Auto-match Functionality: Automatic matching between discovery models and software models is disabled.
    • Navigation Menu: The original SAM plugin navigation menu is deactivated and renamed.
    • Legacy Business Rules: Business rules applied to discovery models in the legacy plugin are disabled.

    Manual Customer Actions Required Post-Activation

    • Customers must manually overwrite any customizations made to forms and lists because automatic changes do not preserve custom configurations.
    • Manual configuration is needed for certain fields within software models, entitlements, and user/device allocation forms after plugin activation to ensure data accuracy and application functionality.

    Practical Implications for ServiceNow Customers

    By migrating to the Software Asset Management Foundation plugin, customers gain access to improved SAM capabilities and updated data structures. However, customers should plan for the necessary manual steps to adjust customizations and configurations following plugin activation to ensure a smooth transition and continued operational effectiveness of SAM processes.

    Migrate from the Software Asset Management plugin to the Software Asset Management Foundation plugin to take advantage of more powerful features. Manual actions by the customer are required after plugin activation.

    After automatic changes are performed during plugin activation, successful migration from the Software Asset Management (com.snc.software_asset_management) plugin to the Software Asset Management Foundation (com.snc.sams) plugin requires a Overwrite customizations for Software Asset Management migration to be performed by the customer.

    Customizations to forms and lists may need to be manually overwritten by the customer after plugin activation. In addition, certain fields in software models, software entitlements, user/device allocations forms require manual configuration by the customer after plugin activation.

    Automatic changes

    The Software Asset Management Foundation (com.snc.sams) plugin performs these automatic changes:
    • Tables
      • Table labels renamed
        Table Original Label New Label
        [alm_license] Software License Software Entitlement
        [alm_entitlement_user] User Entitlement User Allocations
        [alm_entitlement_asset] Device Entitlement Device Allocations
      • Adds new tables and script includes.
      • Adds any string value in the Software Entitlements License key field to the License Key [samp_sw_license_key] table
    • Field names and values
      • Inference mandatory field

        For software models that have suite components (to bundle software models), the Inference mandatory field value in the Software Suite [cmdb_m2m_suite_model] table is transferred to a new Mandatory field

      • Rights field

        The Software Entitlements (formerly Software Licenses) Rights field value in the License Entitlements [alm_entitlement] table is transferred to a new Purchased rights field, and name changed from Rights to Active rights

      • The Software model field for a software entitlement allocation (Software Entitlement [alm_license] table) is automatically set to the software model on the entitlement (License Entitlements [alm_entitlement] table)
      • The quantity for a software entitlement allocation (License Entitlements [alm_entitlement] table) is set to 1 unless there are multiple allocations

        If there are multiple software entitlement allocations for the same user or device, the allocations are aggregated into one record, the quantity is set to the count of aggregated records, and duplicate allocations are not allowed.

    • Forms and lists
      Software Models, Entitlements (formerly Software License), Discovery Models, and Software Installations form and list layouts are modified to fit the new application
      Note:
      Any customizations to these forms and lists must be manually overwritten after plugin activation.
    • Functionality
      Table 1. Functionality disabled
      Functionality Description
      License and software counters The scheduled job trigger for SAM License Counters is changed to None so that it is deactivated, and software counters are disabled.
      Auto-match functionality The auto-match functionality, which attempts to match a discovery model to a corresponding software model, is deactivated.
      Navigation menu The navigation menu for the Software Asset Management plugin is deactivated and renamed.
      Business rules Legacy business rules applied to discovery models are disabled.